Dracula
Bram Stoker
1897
Background
Abraham (Bram) Stoker was born November 8, 1847 in Dublin, Ireland. His father was a civil servant and his mother was a charity worker and writer. He was brought up as an protestant. Stoker was as child very ill and spent a lot of time in bed. His mother told him many horror stories, which may have influenced him in his later writings. In 1864 Stoker entered the Trinity College in Dublin. While he was attending college, he began to work as an Irish civil servant. He also worked, part time, as a free lance journalist and drama critic. In 1876 he met Henry Irving, a famous actor at that time, and they soon became friends. Not long after that, Stoker fell in love with an actress, Florence Balcombe. They married on December 4, 1878 and on the 9th of December, they moved to England to join Irving. There Stoker accepted a job working in London as Irving’s personal secretary. His first book The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland, which was written in Dublin, was published in 1879. Stoker and his wife had a son, Noel, on December 30, 1879. While in England Stoker wrote eighteen books. The only book that is nowadays read, is Dracula. The novel was a bestseller upon first publication, soon went into paperback and is still selling steadily.
Summary
At the beginning of the book you read Jonathan Harker’s journal. He travels to the castle of Count Dracula in Transylvania, to sell him a house in London. At first he gets a very warm welcome. He has long conversations with the count, but only after the sun is set. He never sees the count eat anything. He finds out that all the doors are locked, and he can’t get out of the castle. When the count warns him that he may only sleep in a particular part of the castle, he chooses to go to sleep somewhere else in the castle. In the middle of the night three women come to him, and try to suck his blood. The count prevents this, and gives the women a screaming bag. When Jonathan wakes, he is in the bed of the guestroom. At night he watches, from another room, the counts bedroom window. He sees the count climb out of his window like a spider. Many nights he sees the count do this. Then he climbs, when the sun is up, from a room to the counts room. In the room he finds a stair, and when he descends it, he finds an old chapel. There he finds the count sleep in a chest and he runs away. Later he comes back and wants to kill the count with a shovel. The count opens his eyes and Jonathan startles and dropped the shovel. He runs away, and in his last entry in his journal, he says he is going to escape.
Then there are a few letters between Miss Lucy Westenra and Miss Mina Murray, and after that the diaries from Mina and Dr John Seward. Here is being described that Mina stays with Lucy. Lucy has had three proposals, from Arthur Holmwood, Dr John Seward and Quincy Morris, but accepts only the last one, from Arthur. They stay in Whitby, where a mysterious ship comes in the harbour. The crew is dead and there jumps a dog of the ship, which no one can find later. From that time on, in the night Lucy walks in her sleep and at day she becomes a bit weak. But after a while it goes better. After a while Jonathan is found and Mina (as his fiancée) goes to him and marries him in the hospital. Jonathan doesn’t want to talk about his time in Transylvania and gives his diary to Mina, who doesn’t read it as a sign of proof. After a while they move back to London. In the meantime it doesn’t go well with Lucy. Dr. Seward comes and calls in the assistance of Dr Van Helsing from the Netherlands. They find two little red wounds in Lucy’s neck. She has a great loss of blood, and Seward doesn’t know why. Van Helsing has presumption, but he doesn’t tell Dr. Seward, who’s writing it in his diary. One time they arrive at Lucy’s, and she has so little blood left that Arthur has to give some of his blood to Lucy, with an transfusion of blood. Three times after that this happens, and Mr. Morris, Dr. Seward and Van Helsing give blood to Lucy. They keep this from Arthur. Van Helsing puts garlic all over Lucy’s chamber, but every time this goes wrong and the garlic is put away, and Lucy feels bad again. The fifth time they arrive and Lucy is all bad again, they are too late and Lucy dies. Lucy had left a memorandum where she describes what has happened in the night. After the funeral of Lucy there are disappearing a lot of children for one night, and are found the day after somewhere, with two little red wounds in their neck. Van Helsing takes Dr. Seward to Lucy’s grave in the night. Lucy’s chest is empty. As they go the following day, Lucy lies in her chest. Dr. Seward begins to believe Van Helsing that there’s something wrong, and slowly begins to understand that Lucy is become an Un-dead. They show Quincey and Arthur. The following night they go armed with a wooden stake, sacred Wafer and a little cross to her tomb. At the end of the night Lucy walks the graveyard in with al little child in her arms and her mouth is dripping with blood. They drive Lucy in her tomb and seal it with sacred stuff. When the sun is up they go in Lucy’s tomb and Arthur, who has the most right to release Lucy’s soul, drives a stake through her hart. Dr. Seward and Van Helsing cut of her head en put garlic in her mouth.
The last part is written in Dr Seward’s diary, Jonathan Harker’s and Mina Harker’s journal. Here they have to defeat Count Dracula. Mina had decided that the time has come to read Jonathan’s journal of his time in Transylvania, and is shocked. She types it al out on the typewriter, plus her own journal and gives it to Van Helsing. He is very happy with this, because it is all proof of his assumptions. All five men and Mina go to Dr. Sewards house, where he has a few madmen under his care. They all start working hard to gather information of the Count. Mina types al the diaries and journals out on the typewriter and puts them in chronologic order, so that everyone can read them to try to get new light on things. They find out that the house next to Dr. Sewards house, is the house that Jonathan has sold to count Dracula. So they break, in the night, into that house, armed with an crucifix, garlic blossoms, a revolver, a knife and small lamps, and find boxes with dirt in it. However not as many as the Count has brought with him to London, so he must have moved a few. They put sacred Wafer in the chests, so that the Count can’t use them anymore, for he has to rest in those chests by day. From that night on Mina starts to get a little weak, but she hides it from the others. When the doctors find out that a madmen has let Dracula in Dr. Sewards house, they run to Mina, but it is to late. When they arrive at her chamber, Dracula stands there with Mina, and forcing her to drink his blood. Dracula flights, but Mina is now ‘unclean’, and when she dies, she becomes an Un-dead. The men all get very pissed, and they find all but one chest of Dracula. They meet Dracula again, and try to kill him, but he escapes. They understand that he is going back to Transylvania by ship. They go over land, which is far more faster, and wait for him at Varna, where the ship is supposed to go to. They wait and wait. Eventually they get a wire that the ship is seen in Galatz. So Dracula has escaped them. They go to Galatz and find out that Slovaks are taking a chest, which has Dracula in it, over the river to his castle. Arthur and Jonathan follow the boot with a steamboat, Seward and Quincey follow the boot, with horses, on land, and Van Helsing and Mina go to Dracula’s castle to kill the other three women. Van Helsing succeeds, and Mina and Van Helsing go back, in the direction of which the others are supposed to come. All six of them surround the Slovaks and Jonathan and Quincey move through the Slovaks. Jonathan drives a stake through Dracula’s hart just before the sun is set. Quincey Morris dies in his effort to try to get through the Slovaks.
Seven years later Jonathan writes a note, and he says that he and Mina has a little boy, who they call Quincey.
Setting
The narration time is 402 pages. The narrated time is from 3 May to 6 November, plus seven years for the last note. It are all diaries and letters, who are put in chronologic order, so there are no flashbacks or flashforwards
The story begins in Transylvania, in the middle of nowhere, goes then to London. In the end it goes via Varna and Galatz, back to Transylvania.
They all are of middle class, because, for example, Lucy has maids.
“In the early morning her maid came, and I left her in her care.” (p. 136)
Arthur and Quincey (who is an American) have a lot of money, so that they can achieve things with bribery.
“I felt so thankful that Lord Godalmin (which is Arthur) is rich, and that both he and Mr. Morris, who also has plenty of money, are willing to spend it so freely.” (p. 378)
Characters
Jonathan Harker: He’s a lawyer. He goes to Transylvania to sell Dracula a house in London. He marries Mina in a hospital, where he lay after his episode at transylvania. He helps to destroy (vampire) Lucy and Dracula. He is the one who cuts of Dracula’s head.
Mina Murray, later Mina Harker: She marries Jonathan, and is a good friend from Lucy. She puts all the diaries in chronological order, and helps to destroy Dracula. She is bitten by him, but when Dracula is destroyed, the danger of her becoming a vampire is also destroyed.
Lucy Westenra: She gets three proposals, and accepts the one from Arthur. She is a good friend from Mina. She is the one who Dracula feeds from, when he first come to Whitby, and dies from it. Then she becomes an Un-dead, and her soul is set free when Arthur drives a stake through her hart.
Arthur Holmwood, later also Lord Godalmin: He is engaged with Lucy. When his father dies he gets the title Lord Godalmin, and becomes very rich. He is broken when Lucy dies, but he is the one who drives the stake through Lucy’s hart to free her soul. He helps to destroy Dracula.
Quincey Morris: He is an American, and one of the three who proposes to Lucy. He has good money, and helps to destroy Dracula. He drives a stake through Dracula’s hart, but is in the end he killed by the Slovaks, and his last words are, that it is worth to die for Mina.
“It was worth this to die! Look! Look!” (p. 401)
Dr. John Seward: He is a doctor who treats madmen. He proposes to Lucy, but she refuses. He tries to make Lucy better, and calls in the help of Van Helsing. He cuts of Lucy’s head, and helps to destroy Dracula.
Dr. Abraham Van Helsing: He is a doctor from Amsterdam, and is called by his friend Dr. Seward to London for Lucy. He is the one who gets suspicious about vampires, and he knows a lot about vampires, which he explains to the others. He cuts of Lucy’s head, and he kills the three female vampires. He helps to destroy Dracula.
Count Dracula: He is the vampire who causes all things. He has a very white face, red lips and sharp teeth, which are the classic vampire features. When he bites and sucks someone’s blood, the person dies and becomes an Un-dead, like him. He does this with Lucy and tries to do this with Mina. He is killed by Quincey and Jonathan.
Point of view
It all are diaries, journals, telegrams, letters and memorandums. So everything is from the first-person point of view. There are more narrators, so it is a multiple limited point of view. The effect of this is that you don’t know what’s going to happen, any more than the characters do. You find out with the characters what Dracula is, and how they must destroy him. You make the journey with the character together.
Style
The book was written more than a century ago, so the language that is used is, in comparison to modern English, very formal. For example, friends call each other by last names, or with miss or madam in front of it. But that is varied with first names, or even nicknames.
“So Van Helsing has gone to confer with Mrs Harker and Harker; Quincey and Art are all out following up the clues as to the earth-boxes.”
Tone
The tone in which Stoker has written the story is very different. In the diaries and journals he uses a different tone than in the letters. And in the formal letters he uses a different tone than in the informal letters. Stoker made that distinction very good.
Structure
The book had twenty-seven chapters.
Dramatic line
The introduction of Dracula is as Jonathan travels to the castle of Count Dracula. The initial incident comes very fast as the people who he meet act very strange when he says he goes to Count Dracula. The rising action is the greatest part of the story. This includes Jonathan in Transylvania, Lucy becoming an Un-dead and the search for Dracula. The climax is as Dracula is killed and the falling action is as the Slovaks flight and Quincey die. The conclusion is the last note of Jonathan seven years later.
Theme
The first theme that pops up in my head is: ‘Vampires exists’. But this is way too short.
The second is longer and better: ‘If men have something to fight for, they will do anything, even die for it, to accomplish his goal.’
Title
The meaning of the title is very clear, because it’s the vampire Count Dracula what it’s all about.
“Count Dracula had directed me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel.” (p. 9)
Genre
The book definitely belongs to prose, and it is fiction. It somewhat belongs to a diary, because the story is told from diaries, but there are letters and newspaper cuts in it too. The supernatural plays a part in Dracula, so the book is also fantasy. It is a gothic novel too, because it has mystery, horror and romantic in it.
My own comment
I decided to read Dracula because I have read almost every vampire story, and the most famous and oldest vampire book is Dracula, so I had to have read it. The book centennially didn’t disappoint me. From the beginning I thought it was thrilling. This had I not had expected, because it is a very old book and most old books are not that sensational to me. So it was a big surprise when I wanted to read further, and wanted to know how it was going to end. I liked it too that Van Helsing was from the Netherlands. But he said ‘Mein Gott, mein Gott’, which is German. That is, I think, a shame. I would definitely recommend the book, I already did actually, because it is fun to read and it is a classic.
Bram Stoker
1897
Background
Abraham (Bram) Stoker was born November 8, 1847 in Dublin, Ireland. His father was a civil servant and his mother was a charity worker and writer. He was brought up as an protestant. Stoker was as child very ill and spent a lot of time in bed. His mother told him many horror stories, which may have influenced him in his later writings. In 1864 Stoker entered the Trinity College in Dublin. While he was attending college, he began to work as an Irish civil servant. He also worked, part time, as a free lance journalist and drama critic. In 1876 he met Henry Irving, a famous actor at that time, and they soon became friends. Not long after that, Stoker fell in love with an actress, Florence Balcombe. They married on December 4, 1878 and on the 9th of December, they moved to England to join Irving. There Stoker accepted a job working in London as Irving’s personal secretary. His first book The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland, which was written in Dublin, was published in 1879. Stoker and his wife had a son, Noel, on December 30, 1879. While in England Stoker wrote eighteen books. The only book that is nowadays read, is Dracula. The novel was a bestseller upon first publication, soon went into paperback and is still selling steadily.
Summary
At the beginning of the book you read Jonathan Harker’s journal. He travels to the castle of Count Dracula in Transylvania, to sell him a house in London. At first he gets a very warm welcome. He has long conversations with the count, but only after the sun is set. He never sees the count eat anything. He finds out that all the doors are locked, and he can’t get out of the castle. When the count warns him that he may only sleep in a particular part of the castle, he chooses to go to sleep somewhere else in the castle. In the middle of the night three women come to him, and try to suck his blood. The count prevents this, and gives the women a screaming bag. When Jonathan wakes, he is in the bed of the guestroom. At night he watches, from another room, the counts bedroom window. He sees the count climb out of his window like a spider. Many nights he sees the count do this. Then he climbs, when the sun is up, from a room to the counts room. In the room he finds a stair, and when he descends it, he finds an old chapel. There he finds the count sleep in a chest and he runs away. Later he comes back and wants to kill the count with a shovel. The count opens his eyes and Jonathan startles and dropped the shovel. He runs away, and in his last entry in his journal, he says he is going to escape.
The last part is written in Dr Seward’s diary, Jonathan Harker’s and Mina Harker’s journal. Here they have to defeat Count Dracula. Mina had decided that the time has come to read Jonathan’s journal of his time in Transylvania, and is shocked. She types it al out on the typewriter, plus her own journal and gives it to Van Helsing. He is very happy with this, because it is all proof of his assumptions. All five men and Mina go to Dr. Sewards house, where he has a few madmen under his care. They all start working hard to gather information of the Count. Mina types al the diaries and journals out on the typewriter and puts them in chronologic order, so that everyone can read them to try to get new light on things. They find out that the house next to Dr. Sewards house, is the house that Jonathan has sold to count Dracula. So they break, in the night, into that house, armed with an crucifix, garlic blossoms, a revolver, a knife and small lamps, and find boxes with dirt in it. However not as many as the Count has brought with him to London, so he must have moved a few. They put sacred Wafer in the chests, so that the Count can’t use them anymore, for he has to rest in those chests by day. From that night on Mina starts to get a little weak, but she hides it from the others. When the doctors find out that a madmen has let Dracula in Dr. Sewards house, they run to Mina, but it is to late. When they arrive at her chamber, Dracula stands there with Mina, and forcing her to drink his blood. Dracula flights, but Mina is now ‘unclean’, and when she dies, she becomes an Un-dead. The men all get very pissed, and they find all but one chest of Dracula. They meet Dracula again, and try to kill him, but he escapes. They understand that he is going back to Transylvania by ship. They go over land, which is far more faster, and wait for him at Varna, where the ship is supposed to go to. They wait and wait. Eventually they get a wire that the ship is seen in Galatz. So Dracula has escaped them. They go to Galatz and find out that Slovaks are taking a chest, which has Dracula in it, over the river to his castle. Arthur and Jonathan follow the boot with a steamboat, Seward and Quincey follow the boot, with horses, on land, and Van Helsing and Mina go to Dracula’s castle to kill the other three women. Van Helsing succeeds, and Mina and Van Helsing go back, in the direction of which the others are supposed to come. All six of them surround the Slovaks and Jonathan and Quincey move through the Slovaks. Jonathan drives a stake through Dracula’s hart just before the sun is set. Quincey Morris dies in his effort to try to get through the Slovaks.
Seven years later Jonathan writes a note, and he says that he and Mina has a little boy, who they call Quincey.
Setting
The narration time is 402 pages. The narrated time is from 3 May to 6 November, plus seven years for the last note. It are all diaries and letters, who are put in chronologic order, so there are no flashbacks or flashforwards
The story begins in Transylvania, in the middle of nowhere, goes then to London. In the end it goes via Varna and Galatz, back to Transylvania.
They all are of middle class, because, for example, Lucy has maids.
“In the early morning her maid came, and I left her in her care.” (p. 136)
Arthur and Quincey (who is an American) have a lot of money, so that they can achieve things with bribery.
“I felt so thankful that Lord Godalmin (which is Arthur) is rich, and that both he and Mr. Morris, who also has plenty of money, are willing to spend it so freely.” (p. 378)
Characters
Jonathan Harker: He’s a lawyer. He goes to Transylvania to sell Dracula a house in London. He marries Mina in a hospital, where he lay after his episode at transylvania. He helps to destroy (vampire) Lucy and Dracula. He is the one who cuts of Dracula’s head.
Mina Murray, later Mina Harker: She marries Jonathan, and is a good friend from Lucy. She puts all the diaries in chronological order, and helps to destroy Dracula. She is bitten by him, but when Dracula is destroyed, the danger of her becoming a vampire is also destroyed.
Arthur Holmwood, later also Lord Godalmin: He is engaged with Lucy. When his father dies he gets the title Lord Godalmin, and becomes very rich. He is broken when Lucy dies, but he is the one who drives the stake through Lucy’s hart to free her soul. He helps to destroy Dracula.
Quincey Morris: He is an American, and one of the three who proposes to Lucy. He has good money, and helps to destroy Dracula. He drives a stake through Dracula’s hart, but is in the end he killed by the Slovaks, and his last words are, that it is worth to die for Mina.
“It was worth this to die! Look! Look!” (p. 401)
Dr. John Seward: He is a doctor who treats madmen. He proposes to Lucy, but she refuses. He tries to make Lucy better, and calls in the help of Van Helsing. He cuts of Lucy’s head, and helps to destroy Dracula.
Dr. Abraham Van Helsing: He is a doctor from Amsterdam, and is called by his friend Dr. Seward to London for Lucy. He is the one who gets suspicious about vampires, and he knows a lot about vampires, which he explains to the others. He cuts of Lucy’s head, and he kills the three female vampires. He helps to destroy Dracula.
Count Dracula: He is the vampire who causes all things. He has a very white face, red lips and sharp teeth, which are the classic vampire features. When he bites and sucks someone’s blood, the person dies and becomes an Un-dead, like him. He does this with Lucy and tries to do this with Mina. He is killed by Quincey and Jonathan.
Point of view
It all are diaries, journals, telegrams, letters and memorandums. So everything is from the first-person point of view. There are more narrators, so it is a multiple limited point of view. The effect of this is that you don’t know what’s going to happen, any more than the characters do. You find out with the characters what Dracula is, and how they must destroy him. You make the journey with the character together.
Style
The book was written more than a century ago, so the language that is used is, in comparison to modern English, very formal. For example, friends call each other by last names, or with miss or madam in front of it. But that is varied with first names, or even nicknames.
Tone
The tone in which Stoker has written the story is very different. In the diaries and journals he uses a different tone than in the letters. And in the formal letters he uses a different tone than in the informal letters. Stoker made that distinction very good.
Structure
The book had twenty-seven chapters.
Dramatic line
The introduction of Dracula is as Jonathan travels to the castle of Count Dracula. The initial incident comes very fast as the people who he meet act very strange when he says he goes to Count Dracula. The rising action is the greatest part of the story. This includes Jonathan in Transylvania, Lucy becoming an Un-dead and the search for Dracula. The climax is as Dracula is killed and the falling action is as the Slovaks flight and Quincey die. The conclusion is the last note of Jonathan seven years later.
Theme
The first theme that pops up in my head is: ‘Vampires exists’. But this is way too short.
The second is longer and better: ‘If men have something to fight for, they will do anything, even die for it, to accomplish his goal.’
Title
The meaning of the title is very clear, because it’s the vampire Count Dracula what it’s all about.
“Count Dracula had directed me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel.” (p. 9)
Genre
The book definitely belongs to prose, and it is fiction. It somewhat belongs to a diary, because the story is told from diaries, but there are letters and newspaper cuts in it too. The supernatural plays a part in Dracula, so the book is also fantasy. It is a gothic novel too, because it has mystery, horror and romantic in it.
My own comment
I decided to read Dracula because I have read almost every vampire story, and the most famous and oldest vampire book is Dracula, so I had to have read it. The book centennially didn’t disappoint me. From the beginning I thought it was thrilling. This had I not had expected, because it is a very old book and most old books are not that sensational to me. So it was a big surprise when I wanted to read further, and wanted to know how it was going to end. I liked it too that Van Helsing was from the Netherlands. But he said ‘Mein Gott, mein Gott’, which is German. That is, I think, a shame. I would definitely recommend the book, I already did actually, because it is fun to read and it is a classic.
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